Selectman Robert Jefferies Wednesday night withdrew a Town Meeting warrant article he proposed days after a mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and seven adults were killed.

Selectmen unanimously approved the withdrawal at the outset of the meeting, which was moved to Stony Brook Middle School to accommodate an overflow crowd the week before at Town Hall that forced postponement of debate until Wednesday, when more than 400 residents showed up.

"This was meant to be a discussion within the town of Westford," Jefferies said. "The discussion has gotten way, way beyond. We're not really getting the discussion we want.

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The proposal would have made Westford one of the first towns in Massachusetts to have a bylaw that would ban assault weapons, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

Many in the crowd rose to their feet to applaud and cheer when Selectman Valerie Wormell said the town should not engage in the discussion about gun control.

"I would like to see it end here and now. This is an issue best left at the state and federal levels," Wormell said.

"I won't be happy until all of our Second Amendment rights are protected not just in this town, but the state and all over this country," she said.

Jefferies said he would not let the discussion about banning assault weapons in town end with the withdrawal of his article.

"I don't think it ended tonight," he said. "I have to find out how to move forward."

Jefferies said he still doesn't know how Westford residents feel about his proposal.

He said he has spoken to about one or two dozen people who support the ban.

He said he would support putting together a committee of gunowners, victims advocates, and members of the sportsmen clubs in town to discuss the issue, which was proposed by Brett Fleckner.

Jefferies noted the selectmen had adopted a goal this year of banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in town.

Chairman Kelly Ross said he would be interested in talking about removing that goal from the selectmen's list and he might have brought that up Wednesday night, if he had thought about it.

It remains unclear if selectmen will vote to form a committee on the issue.

"I'm not inclined to have (more) discussion anytime soon, but just let that sit there," Ross said.

Selectman Jim Sullivan also said he would like to leave the issue of gun control to the state and federal governments.

Selectman Andrea Peraner-Sweet seemed open to more discussion, although she agreed the proposed article was not the way to move forward.

"I do believe there have been issues that have been raised that at some point, should be addressed," she said.

The Westford Pro2A people never had the opportunity to engage Jefferies in discussion about the issue.

Jefferies made his proposal at a December selectman's meeting when the board was talking about its goals for the year.

No one knew gun control would be spoken about that night, so neither supporters nor opponents spoke to the issue.

Jefferies did not attend the next meeting, where about 10 people spoke on the issue. The article was supposed to be spoken about at a selectmen's meeting last week, which Jefferies attended, but more than 100 people showed up and Town Hall was over-capacity.

Jefferies and Ross said they heard from many non-Westford residents about the meeting and felt as though many people in the crowd were not residents.

Fletcher said only a handful of people were from out-of-town.

Selectmen declined to reopen the Town Meeting warrant to allow a wetlands bylaw amendment article from Nashoba Valley Technical High School in order for the school to construct a sports complex and two citizens petitions about the firearms bylaw. One petition was an exact copy of Jefferies proposal and the other was to form a committee if Town Meeting amended the town's firearms bylaws.

Ross said if the selectmen had opened the warrant, the citizens petitions would have automatically been placed on the warrant.

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